Absence makes thy heart grow fonder
by Senchi Codo
Summary: Female Percy/Jason. One sided Jasper. Please read, and review.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi. This is my first time writing Percy Jackson stories. Ever since I started reading the series, I wondered what it would be like to have a female Percy (Go Girl Power). Then came Jason, and I absolutely loved his character, but to me Piper was a total Mary Sue. Female Percy/Jason pairing is very rare, and the few written stories are never finished, so I thought I might try my hand at writing one.**

**Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Rick Riordan even if I've always loved Greek Mythology.**

* * *

Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day. He woke up at the back seat of a school bus, not sure where he was, holding hands with a girl he didn't know. He couldn't figure out who she was or what he was doing here.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to think. A few dozen kids were sprawled in the seats in front of him, listening to iPods, talking or sleeping. They all looked around his age… Fifteen? Sixteen? Okay, that was scary. He didn't know his own age.

The bus rumbled along a bumpy road. Out of the windows, desert rolled by under a blue sky. Jason was pretty sure he didn't live in the desert. He tried to think back… the last thing he remembered…

A girl. There was a girl, a very beautiful girl. As soon as he thought of her sea green eyes, a wave of deep longing and overwhelming sadness washed over him. Who was she to him? _Everything. She is everything,_ his mind supplied. But why did it feel that he had lost her? And what was her name?

And now…

"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. ''Look up there and tell me that they aren't flying horses."

At first Jason though Leo _had_hit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east – too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer, he could see a pair of winged animals – grey, four legged, exactly like horses – except each one had a twenty foot wingspan.

And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements." He said, "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet. "That sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us _to_?" Piper asked.

Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking.

Two teenagers stood in the chariot – a tall, blonde girl maybe a little older then Jason, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. They both wore jeans and orange T-Shirts, with shields tossed over their backs. The girl leaped off the chariot before it had even stopped moving. She pulled out a knife and ran towards Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.

"Where is she?" the girl demanded. Her grey eyes were fierce and a little demanding.

"Where's who?" Jason asked.

She frowned like the answer was unacceptable. The she turned to Leo and Piper. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector Gleeson Hedge?"

The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some… tornado things."

"_Venti,"_Jason said. "Storm spirits."

The blonde girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean _anemoi thullai_? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Jason did he best to explain, though it was hard, though it was hard to meet those intense grey eyes.

About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood their glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.

When Jason had finished his story, the blonde girl didn't look satisfied. "No, no, no! She _told_me she would be here. She told me if I came here I would find the answer."

"Annabeth," bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal.'

"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."

"No, Butch," the girl insisted. "He can't be. I was tricked."

She glared at the sky as though it had done something wrong.

"What do you want from me?" she screamed. "What have you done with her?"

The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.

"Annabeth," said the bald dude, Butch, "we gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

She fumed for a moment. "Fine." She fixed Jason with a resentful look. "We'll settle this later."

She turned on her heel and marched towards the chariot.

Piper shook her head. "What's _her_problem? What's going on?"

"Seriously." Leo agreed.

"We have to get you out of here," Butch said. "I'll explain on the way."

"I'm not going anyway with _her_." Jason gestured towards the blonde. "She looks like she wants to kill me."

Butch hesitated. "Annabeth's okay. You gotta cut her some slack. She had a vision telling her to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to her problem."

"What problem?" Piper asked.

"She's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing for three days," Butch said. "She's going out of her mind with worry. She hoped she'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked suddenly feeling sympathetic, as if he had been in the same situation before. May be that girl with sea green eyes, the only one he could remember from his past so far.

"Her best friend," Butch said. "A girl named Andy Jackson."

Jason felt his heart stop from the shock. Could they be the same person? His instincts told him he was right.

_Andy Jackson….. Andromeda._ That was her name.

* * *

"That's Andy, and the girl with the choppy hair, that's Thalia," someone said. Jason turned.

Annabeth was peering over his shoulder. Her expression was sad.

"Thalia is the other child of Zeus who lived here – but not for long. Sorry, I should've knocked."

"It's fine," Jason said. "Not like I think of this place as home."

Annabeth was dressed for travel, with a winter coat over her camp clothes, her knife at her belt, and a backpack across her shoulder.

Jason said, "Don't suppose you've changed your mind about coming with us?"

She shook her head. "You got a good team already. I'm off to look for Andy."

Jason was a little disappointed. He would've appreciated having somebody on the trip who knew what they were doing, so he wouldn't feel like he was leading Piper and Leo off a cliff.

"Hey, you'll do fine," Annabeth promised. "Something tells me this isn't your first quest."

Jason had a vague suspicion she was right, but that didn't make him feel any better. Everyone seemed to think he was so brave and confident, but they didn't see how lost he really felt. How could they trust him when he didn't even know who he was?

He looked at the pictures of Annabeth smiling. He wondered how long it had been since she'd smiled.

She must be really close to Andy to search for her so hard, And that made Jason a little envious.

Was anyone searching for_him_right now? What if somebody cared for_him_that much and was going out of their mind with worry, and he couldn't even remember his old life?

And how did he know Andromeda Jackson? Why was he so worried about her? Why did he feel sad whenever he thought about her? Why did he miss her so much? Why did he thirst for any piece of information about her? Why did he want to abandon everything just to join the search for her? And just why… why was he jealous of the apparent close friendship between Andy and Annabeth?

Jason asked for Annabeth's advice on his quest, and at the end of their conversation,

"Thanks, Annabeth." He looked at the picture still in his hand. "So, um… you said it was dangerous being a child of Zeus. What ever happened to Thalia?"

"Oh, she's fine," Annabeth said. "She became a Hunter of Artemis – one of the handmaidens of the goddess. They roam around the country killing monsters. We don't seem them at camp very often."

Jason glanced over at the huge statue of Zeus. He understood why Thalia had slept in the alcove. It was the only place in the cabin not in Hippie Zeus's line of sight.

And even that hadn't been enough. She'd chosen to follow Artemis and be part of a group rather than stay in this cold drafty temple alone with her twenty-foot-tall dad – _Jason's dad_ – glowering down at her.

_Eat voltage!_

Jason didn't have any trouble understanding Thalia's feelings. He wondered if there was a Hunters group for guys.

"Who's the other girl in the photo?" he asked. "The sea green eyed girl."

Annabeth's expression crumpled. Touchy subject.

"That's Andy," she said.

He focused again on Thalia and Andy's faces. He kept thinking this photo of them was important. He was missing something.

Jason felt a strange sense of connection to this other child of Zeus –Someone who might understand his confusion, maybe even answer some questions. But another voice inside him, an insistent whisper, said: _Dangerous. Stay away._

"How old is she now? Thalia, I mean." he asked.

"Hard to say. She was a tree for a while. Now she's immortal."

"What?"

His expression must've been pretty good, because Annabeth laughed.

"Don't worry. It's not something all children of Zeus go through. It's a long story, but… well, she was out of commission for a long time. If she'd aged regularly, she'd be in her twenties now, But she still looks the same as in that picture, like she's about… well, about your age. Fifteen or sixteen?"

Something the she-wolf had said in his dreams nagged at Jason. He found himself asking, "What's her last name?"

Annabeth looked uneasy. "She didn't use a last name, really. If she had to, she'd use her mom's, but they didn't get along. Thalia ran away when she was pretty young."

Jason waited.

"Grace," Annabeth said. "Thalia Grace."

Jason's fingers went numb. The picture fluttered to the floor.

"You okay?" Annabeth asked.

A shred of memory had ignited – maybe a tiny piece that Hera had forgotten to steal. Or maybe she'd left it there on purpose – just enough for him to remember that name, and know that digging up his past was terribly, terribly dangerous.

_You should be dead_, Chiron has said. It wasn't a comment about Jason beating the odds as a loner. Chiron knew something specific – something about Jason's family.

The she-wolf's words in his dream finally made sense to him, her clever joke at his could imagine Lupa growling a wolfish laugh.

"What is it?" Annabeth pressed.

Jason couldn't keep this to himself. It would kill him, and he had to get Annabeth's help. If she knew Thalia and Andy, maybe she could advise him.

"You have to swear not to tell anyone else," he said.

"Jason –"

"Swear it," he urged. "Until I figure out what's going on, what this all means –" He rubbed the burned tattoos on his forearm. "You have to keep a secret."

Annabeth hesitated, but her curiosity won out. "All right. Until you tell me it's okay, I won't share what you say with anyone else. I swear on the River Styx."

Thunder rumbled, even louder than usual for the cabin.

_You are our saving Grace_, the wolf has snarled.

Jason picked up the photo from the floor.

"My last name is Grace," he said. "This is my sister."

Annabeth turned pale.

"Wait. There's more. Andromeda Jackson. I know her, I think she was my friend or something, but she went missing. I keep seeing her face in my mind, and she looked about twelve years old."

Jason could see Annabeth wrestling with dismay, disbelief, anger. She thought he was lying. His claim was impossible. And part of him felt the same way, but as soon as he spoke the words, he knew they were true.

Then the doors of the cabin burst open. Half a dozen campers spilled in, led by the bald guy from Iris, Butch.

"Hurry!" he said, and Jason couldn't tell if his expression was excitement or fear. "The dragon is back."

* * *

Leo reached into his magic tool belt, pulled out a flashlight, and headed down the stairs, leaving Piper and Jason alone.

Jason gave her a smile, though he looked kind of nervous. It was the exact expression he'd had on his face after he'd kissed her the first time, up on the Wilderness School dorm roof – that cute little scar on his lip curving into a crescent.

The memory gave her a warm feeling. Then she remembered that the kiss had never really happened.

"You look better," Jason offered.

Piper wasn't sure if he meant her foot, or the fact that she wasn't magically beautified anymore.

Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof. Her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. She didn't know what her face looked like, but probably horrible.

Why did it matter? She'd never cared about things like that before.

She wondered if it was her stupid mother, the goddess of love, messing with her thoughts. If Piper started getting urges to read fashion magazines, she was going to have to find Aphrodite and smack her.

She decided to focus on her ankle instead. As long as she didn't move it, the pain wasn't bad. "You did a good job," she told Jason. "Where'd you learn first aid?"

He shrugged. "Same answer as always. I don't know."

"But you're starting to have some memories, aren't you? Like that prophecy in Latin back at camp, or that dream about the wolf."

"It's fuzzy," he said. "Like déjà vu. Ever forgotten a word or name, and you know it should be on the tip of your tongue, but it isn't? It's like that – only with my whole life."

Piper sort of knew what he meant. The last three months – a life she thought she'd had, a relationship with Jason – had turned out to be Mist.

_A boyfriend you never really had_, Enceladus had said. _Is that more important than your own father?_

She should've kept her mouth shut, but she voiced the question that had been on her mind since yesterday.

"That photo in your pocket," she said. "Are they people from your past?"

Jason pulled back.

"I'm sorry," she said. "None of my business. Forget it."

"No – it's okay." His features relaxed. "Just, I'm trying to figure things out. One of them is my sister. Her name's Thalia. I don't remember any details. I'm not even sure how I know, but – um, why are you smiling?"

"Nothing." Piper tried to kill the smile. _Not_ an old girlfriend.

"Um, it's just – that's great you remembered. Annabeth told me she became a Hunter of Artemis, right?"

Jason nodded. "I get the feeling I'm supposed to find her. Hera left me that memory for a reason. It's got something to do with this quest. But… I also have the feeling it could be dangerous. I'm not sure I _want_ to find out the truth. Is that crazy?"

"No," Piper said. "Not at all."

Then her doubts returned, "And the other girl?"

Jason's smile vanished under a veil of sadness and longing. _Oh gods,_ she thought, _could this be the old girlfriend?_

"That's Andy Jackson. I'm not sure how but I used to know her. She was my friend."

"Nothing more?" Piper hoped her voice didn't betray her.

The look on Jason's face turned into embarassment, "I'm not sure. We didn't exactly have the time, I think. I just know that she is important to me,"He finished awkwardly.

She stared at the logo on the wall trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes: MONOCLE MOTORS, the single red eye. Something about that logo bothered her. Maybe it was the idea Enceladus was watching her, holding her father for leverage.

She had to save him, but how could she betray her friends?

"Jason," she said. "Speaking of the truth, I need to tell you something – something about my dad –"

She didn't get the chance.

Somewhere below, metal clanged against metal, like a door slamming shut. The sound echoed through the warehouse.

* * *

"Thalia." Jason stepped forward, his voice trembling. "I'm Jason, your brother."

For a minute, Jason and Thalia faced each other, stunned. Then Thalia rushed forward and hugged him.

"My gods! She told me you were dead!" She gripped Jason's face and seemed to be examining everything about it. "Thank Artemis, it is you. That little scar on your lip you tried to eat a stapler when you were two!"

Leo and Coach Hedge commented, but Jason was too stunned and freaked out to acknowledge them.

"W-wait," Jason stammered. "Who told you I was dead? What happened?"

Thalia tried to send both Hedge and Leo with Piper to her friend, but Jason wanted someone else there. He needed the support.

"Actually, man, could you, um, stick around?"

Leo grinned. "Sticking around is my speciality."

Thalia didn't look too happy about it, but the three of them sat at the fire. For a few minutes, nobody spoke. Jason studied his sister unsure of what he wanted to do. Thalia seemed more at ease, as if she was used to stumbling across stranger things than long-lost relatives. But still she regarded Jason in a kind of amazed trance, maybe remembering a little two-year-old who tried to eat a stapler.

Apparently Leo couldn't stand the silence any longer. "So … the Hunters of Artemis. This whole 'not dating' thing—is that like _always_ , or more of a seasonal thing, or what?"

Thalia stared at him as if he'd just evolved from pond scum.

Jason kicked him in the shin. "Don't mind Leo. He's just trying to break the ice. But, Thalia … what happened to our family? Who told you I was dead?"

Thalia tugged at a silver bracelet on her wrist. In the firelight, in her winter camouflage, she almost looked like Khione the snow princess—just as cold and beautiful.

"Do you remember anything?" she asked.

Jason shook his head. "I woke up three days ago on a bus with Leo and Piper."

"Which wasn't our fault," Leo added hastily. "Hera stole his memories."

Thalia tensed. "Hera? How do you know that?"

Jason explained about their quest—the prophecy at camp, Hera getting imprisoned, the giant taking Piper's dad, and the winter solstice deadline.

Thalia was a good listener. Nothing seemed to surprise her—the monsters, the prophecies, the dead rising. But when Jason mentioned King Midas, she cursed in Ancient Greek.

"I knew we should've burned down his mansion," she said. "That man's a menace. But we were so intent on following Lycaon—Well, I'm glad you got away. So Hera's been … what, hiding you all these years?"

"I don't know." Jason brought out the photo from his pocket. "She left me just enough memory to recognize your face."

Thalia looked at the picture, and her expression softened. "I'd forgotten about that. I left it in Cabin One, didn't I?"

Jason nodded. "I think Hera wanted for us to meet. When we landed here, at this cave … I had a feeling it was important. Like I knew you were close by. Is that crazy?"

"Nah," Leo interrupted him. "We were absolutely destined to meet your hot sister."

Thalia ignored him. "Jason," she said, "when you're dealing with the gods, _nothing_ is too crazy. But you can't trust Hera, especially since we're children of Zeus. She _hates_ all children of Zeus."

"But she said something about Zeus giving her my life as a peace offering. Does that make any sense?"

The color drained from Thalia's face. "Oh, gods. Mother wouldn't have … You don't remember—No, of course you don't."

"What?" Jason asked.

Thalia's features seemed to grow older in the firelight, like her immortality wasn't working so well. She started telling Jason about their mother.

Jason's face looked more and more devastated as Thalia described their mom.

"So …" Jason wasn't able to finish the question.

"Jason, you got friends," Leo told him. "Now you got a sister. You're not alone."

Thalia offered her hand, and Jason took it. She continued on with how Zeus started to visit again when she was seven which was how Jason was born.

"How did you guys get separated?" Leo asked.

Thalia squeezed her brother's hand. "If I'd known you were alive … gods, things would've been so different. But when you were two, Mom packed us in the car for a family vacation. We drove up north, toward the wine country, to this park she wanted to show us. I remember thinking it was strange because Mom never took us anywhere, and she was acting super nervous. I was holding your hand, walking you toward this big building in the middle of the park, and …" She took a shaky breath. "Mom told me to go back to the car and get the picnic basket. I didn't want to leave you alone with her, but it was only for a few minutes. When I came back … Mom was kneeling on the stone steps, hugging herself and crying. She said—she said you were gone. She said Hera claimed you and you were as good as dead. I didn't know what she'd done. I was afraid she'd completely lost her mind. I ran all over the place looking for you, but you'd just vanished. She had to drag me away, kicking and screaming. For the next few days I was hysterical. I don't remember everything, but I called the police on Mom and they questioned her for a long time. Afterward, we fought. She told me I'd betrayed her, that I should support her, like_she_ was the only one who mattered. Finally I couldn't stand it. Your disappearance was the last straw. I ran away from home, and I never went back, not even when Mom died a few years ago. I thought you were gone forever. I never told anyone about you—not even Annabeth or Luke, my two best friends. It was just too painful."

"Chiron knew." Jason's voice sounded far away. "When I got to camp, he took one look at me and said, 'You should be dead.'"

"That doesn't make sense," Thalia insisted. "I never told him."

They talked more about how Jason called the gods by their Roman names, not the Greek ones, how he spoke Latin and that he had tattoos. Then Leo gave Thalia the rundown about the other weird stuff that had happened: Boreas turning into Aquilon, Lycaon calling Jason a "child of Rome," and the wolves backing off when Jason spoke Latin to them.

Thalia plucked her bowstring. "Latin. Zeus sometimes spoke Latin, the second time he stayed with Mom. Like I said, he seemed different, more formal."

"You think he was in his Roman aspect?" Jason asked. "And that's why I think of myself as a child of Jupiter?"

"Possibly," Thalia said. "I've never heard of something like that happening, but it might explain why you think in Roman terms, why you can speak Latin rather than Ancient Greek. That would make you unique. Still, it doesn't explain how you've survived without Camp Half-Blood. A child of Zeus, or Jupiter, or whatever you want to call him—you would've been hounded by monsters. If you were on your own, you should've died years ago. I know _I_ wouldn't have been able to survive without friends. You would've needed training, a safe haven—"

"He wasn't alone," Leo blurted out. "We've heard about others like him."

Thalia looked at him strangely. "What do you mean?"

Leo told her about the slashed-up purple shirt in Medea's department store, and the story the Cyclopes told about the child of Mercury who spoke Latin.

"Isn't there anywhere else for demigods?" Leo asked. "I mean besides Camp Half-Blood? Maybe some crazy Latin teacher has been abducting children of the gods or something, making them think like Romans."

"I've been all over the country," Thalia mused. "I've never seen evidence of a crazy Latin teacher, or demigods in purple shirts. Still …" Her voice trailed off, like she'd just had a troubling thought.

"What?" Jason asked.

Thalia shook her head. "I'll have to talk to the goddess. Maybe Artemis will guide us."

"She's still talking to you?" Jason asked. "Most of the gods have gone silent."

"Artemis follows her own rules," Thalia said. "She has to be careful not to let Zeus know, but she thinks Zeus is being ridiculous closing Olympus. She's the one who set us on the trail of Lycaon. She said we'd find a lead to a missing friend of ours."

Jason felt himself go pale at the mention of the girl whose memory was driving him crazy

"Andy Jackson," Leo guessed. "The girl Annabeth is looking for."

Thalia nodded, her face full of concern and glanced at her picture with Andy Jackson.

"I know her." Jason blurted out.

Thalia's head snapped to him instantly.

Jason hastily continued, "I keep seeing her face in my head. I don't how we knew each other only that we did for a long time, and that she is very important to me."

Thalia looked lost in thought, and then she said, "Looks like Andy has a lot to explain when we find her, but I can't dwell on that right now."

"So what would Lycaon have to do with it?" Leo asked. "And how does it connect to us?"

"We need to find out soon," Thalia admitted. "If your deadline is tomorrow, we're wasting time. Aeolus could tell you—"

The white wolf appeared again at the doorway and yipped insistently.

"I have to get moving." Thalia stood. "Otherwise I'll lose the other Hunters' trail. First, though, I'll take you to Aeolus's palace."

"If you can't, it's okay," Jason said, though he sounded kind of distressed.

"Oh, please." Thalia smiled and helped him up. "I haven't had a brother in years. I think I can stand a few minutes with you before you get annoying. Now, let's go!"

* * *

Jason had found his sister and lost her in less than an hour. As they climbed the cliffs of the floating island, he kept looking back, but Thalia was gone.

Despite what she'd said about meeting him again, Jason wondered. She'd found a new family with the Hunters, and a new mother in Artemis. She seemed so confident and comfortable with her life, Jason wasn't sure if he'd ever be part of it. And she seemed so set on finding her Andy. Had she ever searched for Jason that way?

_Not fair,_ he told himself. _She thought you were dead._

Had he ever searched for Andy that way?

He could barely tolerate what she'd said about their mom. It was almost like Thalia had handed him a baby—a really loud, ugly baby—and said, _Here, this is yours. Carry it._ He didn't want to carry it. He didn't want to look at it or claim it. He didn't want to know that he had an unstable mother who'd gotten rid of him to appease a goddess. No wonder Thalia had run away.

And what about Andy? Why did she leave him? Would he ever find her? Would he ever see her again?

Jason hoped he coould answer himself. He felt like a part of his own soul was missing with her. He cursed Hera again for taking his memories. His instinct told him that the answer for the mystery of "Where in the world was Andromeda Jackson?" lied somwhere in his stolen memories.

But now he should concentrate on his quest and the next god they got to meet…

"We just want information," Piper said in her most calming voice. "We hear you know everything."

Aeolus straightened his lapels and looked slightly mollified. "Well … _that's_ true, of course. For instance, I know that _this_ business here"—he waggled his fingers at the three of them—"this harebrained scheme of Juno's to bring you all together is likely to end in bloodshed. As for you, Piper McLean, I know your father is in serious trouble." He held out his hand, and a scrap of paper fluttered into his grasp. It was a photo of Piper with a guy who must've been her dad. His face _did_ look familiar. Jason was pretty sure he'd seen him in some movies.

Piper took the photo. Her hands were shaking. "This—this is from his wallet."

"Yes," Aeolus said. "All things lost in the wind eventually come to me. The photo blew away when the Earthborn captured him."

"The what?" Piper asked.

Aeolus waved aside the question and narrowed his eyes at Leo. "Now, _you,_ son of Hephaestus … yes, I see your future." Another paper fell into the wind god's hands—an old tattered drawing done in crayons.

Leo took it as if it might be coated in poison. He staggered backward.

"Leo?" Jason said. "What is it?"

"Something I—I drew when I was a kid." He folded it quickly and put it in his coat. "It's … yeah, it's nothing."

Aeolus laughed. "Really? Just the key to your success! And, _you,_ son of J..Zeus, I believe this belongs to you." A picture floated to his hand.

It was a photo of two kids running after each other. A dripping wet blond-haired boy with a familiar electric blue eyes was caught in the middle of a laugh, while chasing after a laughing beautiful girl with long black hair and sea green eyes.

"_Jason! Stop it!"_

"_No, you started it. Get back here, Andy."_

"_Never." _

_Jason caught up with her, and started tickling her causing her laughter to ring through the barracks of the fifth cohort like chimming bells._

"Now, where were we? Ah, yes, you wanted information. Are you sure about that? Sometimes information can be dangerous."

He smiled at Jason like he was issuing a challenge. Behind him, Mellie shook her head in warning.

"Yeah," Jason said pulling himself reluctantly from the memory, that seeing this picture triggered. "We need to find the lair of Enceladus."

Aeolus's smile melted. "The giant? Why would you want to go there? He's horrible! He doesn't even watch my program!"

Piper held up the photo. "Aeolus, he's got my father. We need to rescue him and find out where Hera is being held captive."

"Now, _that's_ impossible," Aeolus said. "Even _I_ can't see that, and believe me, I've tried. There's a veil of magic over Hera's location—very strong, impossible to locate."

"She's at a place called the Wolf House," Jason said.

"Hold on!" Aelous put a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. "I'm getting something! Yes, she's at a place called the Wolf House! Sadly, I don't know where that is."

"Enceladus does," Piper persisted. "If you help us find him, we could get the location of the goddess—"

"Yeah," Leo said, catching on. "And if we save her, she'd be really grateful to you—"

"And Zeus might promote you," Jason finished.

Aeolus's eyebrows crept up. "A promotion—and all you want from me is the giant's location?"

"Well, if you could get us there, too," Jason amended, "that would be great."

Mellie clapped her hands in excitement. "Oh, he could do that! He often sends helpful winds—"

"Mellie, quiet!" Aeolus snapped. "I have half a mind to fire you for letting these people in under false pretenses."

Her face paled. "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"It wasn't her fault," Jason said. "But about that help …"

Aelous tilted his head as if thinking. Then Jason realized the wind lord was listening to voices in his earpiece.

"Well … Zeus approves," Aeolus muttered. "He says … he says it would be better if you could avoid saving her until after the weekend, because he has a big party planned—Ow! That's Aphrodite yelling at him, reminding him that the solstice starts at dawn. She says I should help you. And Hephaestus… yes. Hmm. Very rare they agree on anything. Hold on …"

Jason smiled at his friends. Finally, they were having some good luck. Their godly parents were standing up for them.

Back toward the entrance, Jason heard a loud belch. Coach Hedge waddled in from the lobby, grass all over his face. Mellie saw him coming across the makeshift floor and caught her breath. "Who is _that_?"

Jason stifled a cough. "That? That's just Coach Hedge. Uh, Gleeson Hedge. He's our …" Jason wasn't sure what to call him: _teacher_, _friend_, _problem_?

"Our guide."

"He's _so_ goatly," Mellie murmured.

Behind her, Piper poofed out her cheeks, pretending to vomit.

"What's up, guys?" Hedge trotted over. "Wow, nice place. Oh! Sod squares."

"Coach, you just ate," Jason said. "And we're using the sod as a floor. This is, ah, Mellie—"

"An _aura_." Hedge smiled winningly. "Beautiful as a summer breeze."

Mellie blushed.

"And Aeolus here was just about to help us," Jason said.

"Yes," the wind lord muttered. "It seems so. You'll find Enceladus on Mount Diablo."

"Devil Mountain?" Leo asked. "That doesn't sound good."

"I remember that place!" Piper said. "I went there once with my dad. It's just east of San Francisco Bay."

"The Bay Area again?" The coach shook his head. "Not good. Not good at all."

"Now …" Aeolus began to smile. "As to getting you there—"

Suddenly his face went slack. He bent over and tapped his earpiece as if it were malfunctioning. When he straightened again, his eyes were wild. Despite the makeup, he looked like an old man—an old, very frightened man. "She hasn't spoke to me for centuries. I can't—yes, yes I understand."

He swallowed, regarding Jason as if he had suddenly turned into a giant cockroach. "I'm sorry, son of Jupiter. New orders. You all have to die."

* * *

Jason waited alone in Cabin one alone.

Annabeth and Rachel were due any minute for the head counselors' meeting, and Jason needed time to think.

His dreams the night before had been worse than he'd wanted to share. His memory was still foggy, but bits and pieces were coming back. The night Lupa had tested him and Andy at the Wolf House, to decide if they would be pups or food. Then the long trip south to … he couldn't remember, but he had flashes of his old life, most of them featured Andy Jackson. The day he'd gotten his tattoo. Then there was the day he'd been raised on a shield and proclaimed a praetor. His friends' faces: Dakota, Gwendolyn, Hazel, Bobby, and Reyna. Andy was absent that day.

He remembered scannig the crowds for her hoping that she would be there, even when he knew it to hopeless.

His feelings for Andy made him question a lot of things. Yes, they'd never been together, but he never doubted his love for her even after she'd disappeared from his life. He knew that Piper had feelings for him, but he just couldn't imagine anyone in the place he'd always reserved for Andy….

The back of his neck tingled. He realized someone was standing behind him. He turned and found a woman in a black hooded robe, with a goatskin cloak over her shoulders and a sheathed Roman sword—a _gladius_—in her hands.

"Hera," he said.

She pushed back her hood. "To you, I have always been Juno. And your father has already sent you guidance, Jason. He sent you Piper and Leo. They're not just your responsibility. They are also your friends. Listen to them, and you will do well."

"Did Jupiter send you here to tell me that?"

"No one sends me anywhere, hero," she said. "I am not a messenger."

"But you got me into this. Why did you send me to this camp?"

"I think you know," Juno said. "An exchange of leaders was necessary. It was the only way to bridge to gap."

"I didn't agree to it. And how did Andy Jackson become this camp's leader? I know she was with me at the other camp."

"No. But Zeus gave your life to me, and I am helping you fulfill your destiny. As for Andromeda Jackson, her situation was unique. She was the first of her kind. She belonged to both camps, and she was needed here to fulfill the first Great Prophecy. You could ask her when you see her again. "

Jason tried to control his anger. He looked down at his orange camp shirt and the tattoos on his arm, and he knew these things should not go together. He had become a contradiction—a mixture as dangerous as anything Medea could cook up.

"You're not giving me all my memories," he said. "Even though you promised."

"Most will return in time," Juno said. "But you must find your own way back. You need these next months with your new friends, your new home. You're gaining their trust. By the time you sail in your ship, you will be a leader at this camp. And you will be ready to be a peacemaker between two great powers."

"What if you're not telling the truth?" he asked. "What if you're doing this to cause another civil war?"

Juno's expression was impossible to read—amusement? Disdain? Affection? Possibly all three. As much as she appeared human, Jason knew she was not. He could still see that blinding light—the true form of the goddess that had seared itself into his brain. She was Juno and Hera. She existed in many places at once. Her reasons for doing something were never simple.

"I am the goddess of family," she said. "My family has been divided for too long."

"They divided us so we don't kill each other," Jason said. "That seems like a pretty good reason."

"The prophecy demands that we change. The giants will rise. Each can only be killed by a god and demigod working together. Those demigods must be the seven greatest of the age. As it stands, they are divided between two places. If we remain divided, we cannot win. Gaea is counting on this. You must unite the heroes of Olympus and sail together to meet the giants on the ancient battlegrounds of Greece. Only then will the gods be convinced to join you. It will be the most dangerous quest, the most important voyage, ever attempted by the children of the gods."

Jason looked up again at the glowering statue of his father.

"It's not fair," Jason said. "I could ruin everything."

"You could," Juno agreed. "But gods need heroes. We always have."

"Even you? I thought you hated heroes."

The goddess gave him a dry smile. "I have that reputation. But if you want the truth, Jason, I often envy other gods their mortal children. You demigods can span both worlds. I think this helps your godly parents—even Jupiter, curse him—to understand the mortal world better than I."

Juno sighed so unhappily that despite his anger, Jason almost felt sorry for her.

"I am the goddess of marriage," she said. "It is not in my nature to be faithless. I have only two godly children—Ares and Hephaestus—both of whom are disappointments. I have no mortal heroes to do my bidding, which is why I am so often bitter toward demigods—Heracles, Aeneas, all of them. But it is also why I favored the first Jason, a pure mortal, who had no godly parent to guide him. And why I am glad Zeus gave you to me. You will be my champion, Jason. You will be the greatest of heroes, and bring unity to the demigods, and thus to Olympus."

Her words settled over him, as heavy as sandbags. Two days ago, he'd been terrified by the idea of leading demigods into a Great Prophecy, sailing off to battle the giants and save the world.

He was still terrified, but something had changed. He no longer felt alone. He had friends now, and a home to fight for. He even had a patron goddess looking out for him, which had to count for something, even if she seemed a little untrustworthy.

Jason had to stand up and accept his destiny, just as he had done when he faced Porphyrion with his bare hands. Sure, it seemed impossible. He might die. But his friends were counting on him.

"And if I fail?" he asked.

"Great victory requires great risk," she admitted. "Fail, and there will be bloodshed like we have never seen. Demigods will destroy one another. The giants will overrun Olympus. Gaea will wake, and the earth will shake off everything we have built over five millennia. It will be the end of us all."

"Great. Just great."

Someone pounded on the cabin doors.

Juno pulled her hood back over her face. Then she handed Jason the sheathed _gladius_. "Take this for the weapon you lost. We will speak again. Like it or not, Jason, I am your sponsor, and your link to Olympus. We need each other."

The goddess vanished as the doors creaked open, and Piper walked in.

"Annabeth and Rachel are here," she said. "Chiron has summoned the council."

* * *

**P.S. Some of the inspiration for this story came from "Children Of The Doves" and "Child Of Rome" of Irissen, but sadly they got taken down.**

**P.P.S. At first, I was going to write this as a oneshot, but this chapter became too long that I had to limit it to Jason's experience. Next chapter will be about Andy.**

**I hope you like this story and tell me what you think in a review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N. I know, I know. You have no idea how sorry I'm for such a late update. Believe me I've started working on it since I posted the last one. But life got in the way. First, my job was taking all my time that I barely had enough time to sleep. Then I got sick. Dentists are Satan's people on Earth. Just being in the clinic makes your teeth ache. And here I'm back with a new chapter.**

**On a more cheerful note, less than a week for the release of the House of Hades. Is anyone as excited as I'm? I can't wait. But the next chapter will have to wait because it'll have spoilers of the new book.**

**A.N.2 Huge thanks to everyone who favourited, alerted and reviewed this story. Special thanks to Andrea77 for her review and her messages. To the reviewer who pointed out that Hera has other children, I knew that, but you'll have to go to Rick Riordan to get him to mention them. **

**Disclaimer: As much as I wish it, Percy Jackson isn't mine, but I wouldn't mind it if Rick Riordan would let me borrow him for a while. After all who wouldn't want to have him even temporarily?**

* * *

Andy Jackson was terrified. In no time, she was going to have to face _him_. _Yes_, she had been looking forward to this, to seeing him again after all these years of being apart. Before all that, they had been inseparable since they were two years old. The promise of reuniting with him was the only thing that pushed her on, made her endure all what the Fates threw at her, just to be with him once more. He was her partner, her best friend, her family. He was what grounded her to this world. Sure she had other friends, and she loved them dearly. But he was…..he was _Jason_, her everything.

* * *

After she had heard the prophecy that apparently foretold her death, she had acted non-chalantly when she was scared to death, sorry bad choice of words here. She had promised to return to him, and she wasn't someone to break her promises. Sadly that was one promise it had seemed she wasn't going to keep.

She still remembered their last good bye. It had been awful not knowing when the next time they would meet was.

"_You're leaving."_

_Andy turned around at the sound of that familiar voice, startled at the amount of anger she could hear in those few words. But then again she shouldn't be surprised._

"_You're leaving without at least saying good bye."_

_Her eyes welled with unshed tears, and she hastened to hide them, but it was too late, he had already seen them and rushed forward to hug her._

"_Oh Andy! What am I going to do without you?"_

_Without thinking, she heard herself saying, "I'll come back."_

"_Promise?"_

"_I promise. I don't know when that will be, but I'll make it back here, to you."_

"_Those years are going to be hard on me."_

"_I know. Me too."_

"_Promise you won't forget me."_

"_Jason,I couldn't even if I tried."She burrowed herself into him more, and mumbled, " I'll miss you everyday."_

"_I'll miss you too." And without warning, Jason captured her lips in a kiss. It was painfully innocent, just a promise that he would be waiting for her. As soon as it started, Jason pulled from Andy and walked away, leaving Andy staring at his back._

The years had passed and everyday she dreamed of being with him again. Sure her time at Camp Half Blood was good and she had friends there, but Camp Jupiter had been her home for as long as she could remember.

She had almost reached her breaking point so many times, but the hardest time on Andy had been when she saw Jason in The River Styx, when she knew that he was the one thing tethering her to the ground, to reality.

_"Just wait on the shore. If anything happens to me… Well, maybe Hades will get his wish, and you'll be the child of the prophecy after all."_

_Nico didn't look pleased about that, but Andy didn't care._

_Before she could change her mind, she concentrated on the small of her back-a tiny point just opposite her navel.__It was well defended when she wore her armor. It would be hard to hit by accident, and few enemies would aim for it on purpose._

_No place was perfect, but this seemed right to her, and a lot more dignified than, like, her armpit or something._

_Andy pictured a string, a bungee cord connecting her to the world from the small of her back. And she stepped into the river._

_Imagine jumping into a pit of boiling acid._

_Now multiply that pain times fifty.__You still won't be close to understanding what it felt like to swim in the Styx._

_She planned to walk in slow and courageous like a real heroine.__As soon as the water touched her legs, her muscles turned to jelly and she fell face-first into the current._

_She submerged completely. For the first time in her life, she couldn't breathe underwater._

_Andy finally understood the panic of drowning.__Every nerve in her body burned. She was dissolving in the water._

_She saw faces-Annabeth, Rachel, Grover, Tyson, Gwen, Dakota, Bobby, her mother-but they faded as soon as they appeared._

_"Andy," her mom's ghost said. "I give you my blessing."_

_"Be safe, sister!" Tyson pleaded._

"_Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth shaking her head and laughing._

"_Come back, Andy." Gwen said between tears._

_"Enchiladas!" Grover said. She wasn't sure where that came from, but it didn't seem to help much._

_She was losing the fight. The pain was too hands and feet were melting into the water, her soul was being ripped from her body._

_She couldn't remember who she was. The pain of Kronos's scythe had been nothing compared to this._

The cord_,__a familiar voice said._Remember your lifeline.

_Suddenly there was a tug in her lower back. The current pulled at her, but it wasn't carrying her away anymore. She imagined the string in her back keeping her tied to the shore._

_"Hold on, Andy." It was Jason's voice, much clearer now. "You're not getting away from me that easily."_

_Andy looked up and there was Jason in his purple camp shirt. He was reaching out his hand trying to touch her._

"_Come on. Take my hand." He smiled, "You promised to come back to me, and I'm still waiting and holding you to that."_

_Memories came flooding back to her-sharper and more colorful. She stopped dissolving._

_Her name was Andy Jackson._

_She reached up and took Jason's hand._

_Suddenly she burst out of the river. She collapsed on the sand, and Nico scrambled back in surprise._

_"Are you okay?" he stammered. "Your skin. Oh, gods. You're hurt!"_

_Her arms were bright red. She felt like every inch of her body had been broiled over a slow flame._

_Andy looked around for Jason, though she knew he wasn't here. It had seemed so real._

* * *

Prometheus brushed a speck off his tux lapel. "Understand, Andy. You are re-fighting the Trojan War here. Patterns repeat themselves in history. They reappear just as monsters do. A great siege. Two armies. The only difference is, this time you are defending. You are Troy. And you know what happened to the Trojans, don't you?"

"So you're going to cram a wooden horse into the elevator at the Empire State Building?" Andy asked. "Good luck."

Prometheus smiled. "Troy was completely destroyed, Andy. You don't want that to happen here. Stand down, and New York will be spared. Your forces will be granted amnesty. I will personally assure your Kronos take Olympus. Who cares? Typhon will destroy the gods anyway."

"Right," she said. "And I'm supposed to believe Kronos would spare the city."

"All he wants is Olympus," Prometheus promised. "The might of the gods is tied to their seats of power. You saw what happened to Poseidon once his undersea palace was attacked."

Andy winced, remembering how old and decrepit her father looked.

"Yes," Prometheus said sadly. "I know that was hard for you. When Kronos destroys Olympus, the gods will fade. They will become so weak they will be easily defeated. Kronos would rather do this while Typhon has the Olympians distracted in the west. Much easier. Fewer lives lost. But make no mistake, the best you can do is slow us down. The day after tomorrow, Typhon arrives in New York, and you will have no chance at all. The gods and Mount Olympus will still be destroyed, but it will be much messier. Much, much worse for you and your city. Either way, the Titans will rule."

Thalia pounded her fist on the table. "I serve Artemis. The Hunters will fight to our last breath. Andy, you're not seriously going to listen to this slimeball, are you?"

Andy figured Prometheus was going to blast her, but he just smiled. "Your courage does you credit, Thalia Grace."

Grace, Thalia's last name is Grace. Oh gods.

Thalia stiffened. "That's my mother's surname. I don't use it."

"As you wish," Prometheus said casually, but Andy could tell he'd gotten under her skin. She'd never even heard Thalia's last name before. On the inside, she was panicking. Thalia is Jason's full sister. What was she supposed to do now with that startling information? She should tell Thalia, but how? No doubt Thalia thought Jason was dead for years. But later after the war, if she survived.

* * *

"STOP!" Annabeth came from nowhere.

Kronos whirled to face her and slashed with Backbiter, but somehow Annabeth caught the strike on her dagger hilt. It was a move only the quickest and most skilled knife fighter could've managed. Andy didn't know where she found the strength, but she stepped in closer for leverage, their blades crossed, and for a moment she stood face-to-face with the Titan lord, holding him at a standstill.

"Luke," she said, gritting her teeth, "I understand now. You have to trust me."

Kronos roared in outrage. "Luke Castellan is dead! His body will burn away as I assume my true form!"

Andy tried to move, but her body was frozen again. How could Annabeth, battered and half dead with exhaustion, have the strength to fight a Titan like Kronos?

Kronos pushed against her, trying to dislodge his blade, but she held him in check, her arms trembling as he forced his sword down toward her neck.

"Your mother," Annabeth grunted. "She saw your fate."

"Service to Kronos!" the Titan roared. "This is my fate."

"No!" Annabeth insisted. Her eyes were tearing up, but Andy didn't know if it was from sadness or pain. "That's not the end, Luke. The prophecy: she saw what you would do. It applies to you!"

"I will crush you, child!" Kronos bellowed.

"You won't," Annabeth said. "You promised. You're holding Kronos back even now."

Andy now understood what Annabeth was trying to do. If they could only get Luke to listen.

"LIES!" Kronos pushed again, and this time Annabeth lost her balance. With his free hand, Kronos struck her face, and she slid backward.

Andy summoned all her will. She managed to rise, but it was like holding the weight of the sky again.

Kronos loomed over Annabeth, his sword raised.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She croaked, "Family, Luke. You promised."

Andy shouted from her place, "Remember your promises, Luke. You said that we are all one family."

She took a painful step forward. Grover was back on his feet, over by the throne of Hera, but he seemed to be struggling to move as well. Before either of them could get anywhere close to Annabeth, Kronos staggered.

He stared at Andy, then at the knife in Annabeth's hand, the blood on her face. "Promise."

Then he gasped like he couldn't get air. "Andy, Annabeth…" But it wasn't the Titan's voice. It was Luke's. He stumbled forward like he couldn't control his own body. "Annabeth, you're bleeding…."

"My knife." Annabeth tried to raise her dagger, but it clattered out of her hand. Her arm was bent at a funny angle. She looked at me, imploring, "Andy, please…"

Andy could move again.

She surged forward and scooped up her knife. She knocked Backbiter out of Luke's hand, and it spun into the hearth. Luke hardly paid it any attention. He stepped toward Annabeth, but Grover put himself between him and her.

"Don't touch her," he said.

Anger rippled across his face. Kronos's voice growled: "Satyr…" Was it imagination, or was his whole body glowing, turning gold?

He gasped again. Luke's voice: "He's changing. Andy,help. He's… he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please-"

"NO!" Kronos bellowed. He looked around for his sword, but it was in the hearth, glowing among the coals.

He stumbled toward it. Andy tried to stop him, but he pushed her out of the way with such force she landed next to Annabeth and cracked her head on the base of Athena's throne.

"The knife, Andy," Annabeth muttered. Her breath was shallow. "Hero… cursed blade…"

When Andy's vision came back into focus, she saw Kronos grasping his sword. Then he bellowed in pain and dropped it. His hands were smoking and seared. The hearth fire had grown red-hot, like the scythe wasn't compatible with it. She saw an image of Hestia flickering in the ashes, frowning at Kronos with disapproval.

Luke turned and collapsed, clutching his ruined hands. "Please, Andy…"

Andy struggled to my feet. She moved toward him with the knife. She should kill him. That was the plan.

Luke seemed to know what she was thinking. He moistened his lips. "You can't… can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can… can keep him controlled."

He was definitely glowing now, his skin starting to smoke.

Andy raised the knife to strike. Then she looked at Annabeth, at Grover cradling her in his arms, trying to shield her. And Andy finally understood what she'd been trying to tell her.

_You are not the hero_, Rachel had said._ It will affect what you do._

"Please," Luke groaned. "No time."

If Kronos evolved into his true form, there would be no stopping him. He would make Typhon look like a playground bully.

The line from the great prophecy echoed in her head:_ A hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_. Her whole world tipped upside down, and she gave the knife to Luke.

Grover yelped. "Andy? Are you… um…"

Crazy. Insane. Off my rocker. Probably.

But Andy watched as Luke grasped the hilt.

She stood before him – defenseless.

He unlatched the side straps of his armor, exposing a small bit of his skin just under his left arm, a place that would be very hard to eyes locked onto hers, and they seemed to radiate sadness and regret, then with difficulty, he stabbed himself.

It wasn't a deep cut, but Luke howled.

His eyes glowed like lava. The throne room shook, throwing her off her feet. An aura of energy surrounded Luke, growing brighter and brighter. She shut her eyes and felt a force like a nuclear explosion blister her skin and crack her lips.

It was silent for a long time.

When Andy opened her eyes, she saw Luke sprawled at the hearth. On the floor around him was a blackened circle of ash.

Kronos's scythe had liquefied into molten metal and was trickling into the coals of the hearth, which now glowed like a blacksmith's furnace.

Luke's left side was bloody. His eyes were open – blue eyes, the way they used to be. His breath was a deep rattle.

"Good… blade," he croaked.

Andy knelt next to him. Annabeth limped over with Grover's support. They both had tears in their eyes, and she realized that she was crying too.

Luke gazed at Annabeth and Andy "You knew. I almost killed you many times, but you both knew…"

"Shhh." Her voice trembled. "You were a hero at the end, Luke. You'll go to Elysium."

He shook his head weakly. "Think… rebirth. Try for three times. Isles of the Blest."

Annabeth sniffled. "You always pushed yourself too hard."

He turned to Andy and held up his charred hand. Andy touched his fingertips.

"Did you…" Luke coughed and his lips glistened red. "Did you love me?"

Andy wiped her tears away. "There was a time I thought… well, I thought…", she said softly. Jason's face flashed in front of her mind's eyes. "But no, I didn't love you."

He nodded, as if he'd expected it. He winced in pain.

"We can get ambrosia," Grover said. "We can-"

"Grover," Luke gulped. "You're the bravest satyr I ever knew. But no. There's no healing…" Another cough. He gripped Andy's sleeve, and she could feel the heat of his skin like a fire. "Ethan. Me. All the unclaimed. Don't let it… Don't let it happen again."

His eyes were pleading.

"I won't," Andy said. "I promise."

Luke nodded, and his hand went slack.

The gods arrived a few minutes later in their full war regalia, thundering into the throne room and expecting a battle.

What they found were Annabeth, Grover, and Andy standing over the body of a broken half-blood, in the dim warm light of the hearth.

"Andromeda," Andy's father called, awe in his voice. "What… what is this?"

She turned and faced the Olympians.

"We need a shroud," Andy announced, her voice cracking. "A shroud for the son of Hermes, Hero of Olympus"

* * *

Annabeth and Andy were relaxing on the Great Lawn in Central Park when a sudden streak of light made Andy blink, As if someone had flashed a mirror in her face. She looked around and saw a brown delivery truck parked in the middle of the Great Lawn where no cars were allowed. Lettered on the side were the words:

**HERNIAS ARE US**

She squinted and decided it probably read:

**HERMES EXPRESS**

"Oh good," Andy muttered. "We've got mail."

"What?" Annabeth asked.

Andy pointed at the truck. The driver was climbing out. He wore a brown uniform shirt and knee-length shorts along with stylish black socks and cleats. His curly salt-and-pepper hair stuck out around the edges of his brown cap. He looked like a guy in his mid-thirties, but Andy know from experience he was actually in his mid-five-thousands.

Hermes. Messenger of the gods. Personal friend, dispenser of heroic quests, and frequent cause of migraine headaches.

He looked upset. He kept patting his pockets and wringing his hands. Either he'd lost something important or he'd had too many expressos at the Mount Olympus Starbucks.

Finally he spotted Andy and beckoned, get over here!

That could have ment several things. It he was delivering a message in person from the gods, it was bad news. If he wanted something from her, it was also bad news.

How do you greet a god? If there's an etiquette guide for that, Andy certainly haven't read it.

She was never sure if one was supposed to shake hands, kneel, or bow and shout, "We're not worthy!"

But Andy knew Hermes better than most of the Olympians. Over the years, he'd helped her out several times.

She decided to start simple. "Hi."

Hermes scanned the park as if he was afraid of being watched. Andy wasn't sure why he bothered. Gods are usually invisible to mortals. Nobody else on the Great Lawn was paying any attention to the delivery van.

Hermes glanced at Annabeth, then back at Andy. "I didn't know that girl would be here. She'll have to swear to keep her mouth shut."

Annabeth crossed her arms. "That girlcan hear you. And before I swear to anything, maybe you'd better tell us what's wrong."

Andy didn't think she'd ever seen a god look so jittery. Hermes tucked a curl of grey hair behind his ear. He patted his pockets again. His hands didn't seem to know what to do.

He leaned in and lowered his voice. "I mean it, girl. If word gets back to Athena, she'll never stop teasing me. She already thinks she's so much cleverer than I am."

"She is," Annabeth said. Of course, she was prejudiced. Athena was her mom.

Hermes glared at her. "Promise. Before I explain the problem, both of you must promise to keep silent."

Suddenly it dawned on Andy. "Where's your staff?"

Hermes's eye twitched. He looked like he was about to cry.

"Oh, gods," Annabeth said. "You lostyour staff?"

"I didn't lose it!" Hermes snapped. "It was stolen. And I wasn't asking for yourhelp, girl!"

"Fine," she said. "Solve your own problem. Come on, Andy. Let's get out of here."

Hermes snarled. Andy realized she might have to break up a fight between an immortal god and one of her best friends, and she didn't want to be on either side of that.

She figured things would go badly if these two went nuclear, so she risked stepping in between them. "Annabeth, tell you what. This sounds important. Let me hear him out."

Andy grabbed Hermes's arm. "Let's step into your office."

Hermes and Andy sat in the back of the delivery truck on a couple of boxes labeled TOXIC SERPENTS. THIS END UP. Maybe that wasn't the best place to sit, but it was better than some of his other deliveries, which were labeled EXPLOSIVES, DO NOT SIT ON, and DRAKON EGGS, DO NOT STORE NEAR EXPLOSIVES.

"So what happened?" Andy asked him.

Hermes slumped on his delivery boxes. He stared at his empty hands. "I only left them alone for a minute."

"Them..." she said. "Oh, George and Martha?"

Hermes nodded dejectedly. Andy was kind of fond of George and Martha. She got the feeling Hermes was too, even though he was constantly arguing with them.

"I made a stupid mistake," he muttered. "I was late with a delivery. I stopped at Rockefeller Center and was delivering a box of doormats to Janus-"

"Janus," she said. "The two-faced guy, god of doorways."

"Yes, yes. He works there. Network television.

"Say what?"

The last time Andy'd met Janus he'd been in a deadly magical labyrinth, and the experience hadn't been pleasant.

Hermes rolled his eyes. "Surely you've seen network TV lately. It's clear they don't know weather they're coming or going. That's because Janus is in charge of programming. He loves ordering new shows and canceling them after two episodes. God of beginnings and endings after all. Anyway, I was double-parked -"

"You have to worry about double-parking?"

"Will you let me finish my story?"

"Sorry."

"So I left my caduceus on the dashboard and ran inside with the box. Then I realized I needed to have Janus sign for the delivery, so I ran back to the truck -"

"And the caduceus was gone."

Hermes nodded. "If that ugly brute has harmed my snakes, I swear my the Styx -"

"Hold on. You know who took the staff?"

Hermes snorted. "Of course. I checked the security cameras in the area. I talked with the wind nymphs. The thief was clearly Cacus."

"Cacus." Andy'd had years of practice looking dumb when people threw out Greek names she didn't know. Annabeth keept telling her to read a book of Greek myths, but she didn't see the need. It was hard enough memorizing all the names in Roman.

"Good old Cacus," she said. "I should probably know who that is -"

"Oh he's a giant," Hermes said dismissively. "A smallgiant, not one of the big ones."

"A small giant."

"Yes. Maybe ten feet high."

"Tiny, then," Andy agreed.

"He's a well-known thief. Stole Apollo's cattle once."

"I thought youstole Apollo's cattle."

"Well, yes. But I did it first, and with much more style. At any rate, Cacus is always stealing things from the gods. Very annoying. He used to hide out in a cave on Capitoline Hill, where Rome was founded. Nowadays, he's in Manhattan. Underground somewhere, I'm sure."

Andy took a deep breath. She saw where this was going. "Now you're going to explain to me why you, a superpowerful god, can't just go get your staff back yourself, and why you need me, a sixteen-year-old, to do it for you."

Hermes tilted his head. "Andy, that almost sounded like sarcasm. You know very well the gods can't go around busting heads and ripping up mortal cities looking for our lost items. If we did that, New York would be destroyed every time Aphrodite lost her hairbrush, and believe me, that happens a lot. We need heroes for that sort of errand."

"Uh-huh. And if you went looking for your staff yourself, it might be a bit embarrassing."

Hermes pursed his lips. "All right. Yes. The other gods would certainly take notice. Me, the god of thieves, being stolen from. And mycaduceus, no less, symbol of my power! I'd be ridiculed for centuries. The idea is too horrible. I need this resolved quickly and quietly before I become the laughingstock of Olympus."

"So...you want us to find this giant, get back your caduceus, and return it to you. Quietly."

Hermes smiled. "What a fine offer! Thank you. And I'll need it before five o'clock this evening so I can finish my deliveries. The caduceus serves as my signature pad, my GPS, my phone, my parking permit, my iPod Shuffle - really, I can't do a thing without it."

"By five."

Andy didn't have a watch, but she was pretty sure it was at least one o'clock already. "Can you be more specific about where Cacus is?"

Hermes shrugged. "I'm sure you can figure that out. And just a warning: Cacus breathes fire."

"Naturally." she said.

"And do be mindful of the caduceus. The tip can turn people to stone. I had to do that once with this terrible tattletale named Battus...but I'm sure you'll be careful. And of course you'll keep this our little secret."

He smiled winningly. Maybe Andy was imagining that he'd just threatened to petrify her if she told anyone about the theft.

She swallowed the sawdust taste out of her mouth. "Of course."

"You'll do it, then?"

An idea occurred to her.

"How about we trade favors?" Andy suggested. "I help you with your situation; you help me with mine."

Hermes raised his eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"

"You know all the news and the gossip, right?"

"Of course." Andy then told him what kind of information she needed.

After a chase all over New York, they got the caduceus, and went to meet Hermes.

They met Hermes by the Atlas statue at Rockefeller Center.

"Thank the Fates!" Hermes cried. "I'd just about given up hope!"

He took the caduceus and patted the heads of his sleepy snakes. "There, there, my friends. You're home now."

_Zzzzz_, said Martha.

_Yummy,_ George murmured in his sleep.

Hermes sighed with relief. "Thank you Andy."

Annabeth cleared her throat.

"Oh, yes," the god added, "and you, too, girl. I just have time to finish my deliveries! But what happened with Cacus?"

They told him the story. When Andy related what Cacus had said about someone else giving him the idea to steal the caduceus, and about the gods having other enemies, Hermes's face darkened.

"Cacus wanted to cut the gods' communication lines, did he?" Hermes mused. "That's ironic, considering Zeuss has been threatening..."

His voice trailed off.

"What?" Annabeth asked. "Zeus has been threatening what?"

"Nothing." Hermes said.

It was obviously a lie, but Andy'd learned that it's best not to confront gods when they lie to your face. They tend to turn you into small fuzzy animals or potted plants.

Okay..." Andy said. "Any idea what Cacus meant about other enemies, or who would want him to steal your caduceus?"

Hermes fidgeted. "Oh, could be any number of enemies. We gods dohave many."

"Hard to believe," Annabeth said.

Hermes nodded.

Apparently he didn't catch the sarcasm, or he had other things on his mind. Andy got the feeling the giant's warnings would come back to haunt them sooner or later, but Hermes obviously wasn't going to enlighten them now.

The god managed a smile. "At any rate, well done, both of you! Now I must be going. So many stops -"

"There's the small matter of the information I needed," Andy reminded him.

Annabeth frowned. "What information?"

"Nothing, Annabeth. Just something I asked Hermes about. I'll join you in a while."

"Ok, but you owe me an explanation."

After Annabeth gave Hermes and Andy some privacy.

Andy turned to Hermes, "So…, any idea when I'll get back to New Rome. It's been a month since the battle, and I need to see my old friends again."

"Andy, right now you're needed here. You're their leader. You belong at Camp Half Blood as much as you belong at Camp Jupiter."

Andy just looked at him with wide eyes imbloring him to answer her.

"Fine. Fine. I don't know exactly when, but there's a plan we're working on. It'll propably take a few months, but soon enough you'll go back to New Rome."

"Months!" Andy exclaimed horrified.

"You waited for years," Hermes pointed out. When that didn't get a response out of Andy, he added, "Don't worry. Your friends are all fine. Jason Grace even became the praetor."

That broke Andy out of her stupor, and she smiled shakily, "That's good, really good. I'm so proud of him. I just wish I was there to share this moment with him. We used to share everything together."

Andy blinked, and noticed she was still standing with Hermes, "Thanks, Hermes. I appreciate it."

Hermes rubbed his hands. "Say good-bye, George and Martha."

_Goodbye, George and Martha,_ said George sleepily.

_Zzz,_ said Martha.

"I may not see you for a while, Andy," Hermes warned. "But... well, good bye."

He made that sound so ominous, Andy wondered again what he wasn't telling her. Then he snapped his fingers, and disappeared.

* * *

Andy was confused. When she'd awoken from her long, sleep she didn't know much more than her name. The only thing she can recall from her past was another name:_Jason..._

The glow at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, and finally they burst into sunlight. Andy froze. Spread out at her feet was a bowl-shaped valley several miles wide. The basin floor was rumpled with smaller hills, golden plains, and stretches of forest. A small clear river cut a winding course from a lake in the center and around the perimeter, like a capital G. The geography could've been anywhere in northern California—live oaks and eucalyptus trees, gold hills and blue skies. That big inland mountain—what was it called, Mount Diablo?—rose in the distance, right where it should be. But Andy felt like she'd stepped into a secret world.

In the center of the valley, nestled by the lake, was a small city of white marble buildings with red-tiled roofs. Some had domes and columned porticoes, like national monuments. Others looked like palaces, with golden doors and large gardens. She could see an open plaza with freestanding columns, fountains, and statues. A five-story-tall Roman coliseum gleamed in the sun, next to a long oval arena like a racetrack. Across the lake to the south, another hill was dotted with even more impressive buildings—temples, Andy guessed. Several stone bridges crossed the river as it wound through the valley, and in the north, a long line of brickwork arches stretched from the hills into the town. Andy thought it looked like an elevated train track. Then she realized it was the aqueduct. The strangest part of the valley was right below her. About two hundred yards away, just across the river, was some sort of military encampment. It was about a quarter mile square, with earthen ramparts on all four sides, the tops lined with sharpened spikes. Outside the walls ran a dry moat, also studded with spikes.

Wooden watchtowers rose at each corner, manned by sentries with oversized, mounted crossbows. Purple banners hung from the towers. A wide gateway opened on the far side of camp, leading toward the city. A narrower gate stood closed on the riverbank side. Inside, the fortress bustled with activity: dozens of kids going to and from barracks, carrying weapons, polishing armor. Andy heard the clank of hammers at a forge and smelled meat cooking over a fire. Something about this place felt very familiar, it felt like home. May be she met Jason here. _Camp Jupiter, _her mind whispered.

"Camp Jupiter," Frank said,and she looked at him startled. "We'll be safe once—"

Footsteps echoed in the tunnel behind them. Hazel burst into the light. She was covered with stone dust and breathing hard. She'd lost her helmet, so her curly brown hair fell around her shoulders. Her armor had long slash marks in front from the claws of a gorgon. One of the monsters had tagged her with a 50% off sticker.

"I slowed them down," she said. "But they'll be here any second." Frank cursed. "We have to get across the river." June squeezed Andy's neck tighter. "Oh, yes, please. I can't get my dress wet."

Andy bit her tongue. If this lady was a goddess, she must've been the goddess of smelly, heavy, useless hippies.

But she'd come this far. She'd better keep lugging her along. _It's a kindness,_she'd said. _And if you on't, the gods will die, the world we know ill perish, and everyone from your life will be destroyed. _If this was a test, she couldn't afford to get an F. She stumbled a few times as they ran for the river. Frank and Hazel kept her on her feet. They reached the riverbank, and Andy stopped to catch her breath. The current was fast, but the river didn't look deep. Only a stone's throw across stood the gates of the fort.

"Go, Hazel." Frank nocked two arrows at once. "Escort Andy so the sentries don't shoot her. It's my turn to hold off the baddies." Hazel nodded and waded into the stream.

Andy started to follow, but something made her hesitated. Usually she loved the water, but this river seemed…powerful, and not necessarily friendly.

"The Little Tiber," said June sympathetically. "It flows with the power of the original Tiber, river of the empire. This is your last chance to back out, child. The mark of Achilles is a Greek blessing. You can't retain it if you cross into Roman territory. The Tiber will wash it away."

Andy was too exhausted to understand all that, but she got the main point. "If I cross, I won't have iron skin anymore?"

June smiled. "So what will it be? Safety, or a future of pain and possibility?"

Behind her, the gorgons screeched as they flew from the tunnel. Frank let his arrows fly.

From the middle of the river, Hazel yelled, "Andy, come on!"

Up on the watchtowers, horns blew. The sentries shouted and swiveled their crossbows toward the gorgons.

_Jason_, Andy thought. She forged into the river. It was icy cold, much swifter than she'd imagined, but that didn't bother her. New strength surged through her limbs. Her senses tingled like she'd been injected with caffeine. She reached the other side and put the old woman down as the camp's gates opened. Dozens of kids in armor poured out.

Hazel turned with a relieved smile. Then she looked over Andy's shoulder, and her expression changed to horror. "Frank!"

Frank was halfway across the river when the gorgons caught him. They swooped out of the sky and grabbed him by either arm. He screamed in pain as their claws dug into his skin. The sentries yelled, but Andy knew they couldn't get a clear shot. They'd end up killing Frank. The other kids drew swords and got ready to charge into the water, but they'd be too late. There was only one way.

Andy thrust out her hands. An intense tugging sensation filled her gut, and the Tiber obeyed her will. The river surged. Whirlpools formed on either side of Frank. Giant watery hands erupted from the stream, copying Andy's movements. The giant hands grabbed the gorgons, who dropped Frank in surprise. Then the hands lifted the squawking monsters in a liquid vise grip Andy heard the other kids yelping and backing away, but she stayed focused on her task. She made a smashing gesture with her fists, and the giant hands plunged the gorgons into the Tiber. The monsters hit bottom and broke into dust. Glittering clouds of gorgon essence struggled to re-form, but the river pulled them apart like a blender. Soon every trace of the gorgons was swept downstream. The whirlpools vanished, and the current returned to normal.

Andy stood on the riverbank. Her clothes and her skin steamed as if the Tiber's waters had given her an acid bath. She felt exposed, raw…vulnerable.

In the middle of the Tiber, Frank stumbled around, looking stunned but perfectly fine. Hazel waded out and helped him ashore. Only then did Andy realize how quiet the other kids had become. Everyone was staring at her. Only the old lady June looked unfazed. "Well, that was a lovely trip," she said. "Thank you, Andy Jackson, for bringing me to Camp Jupiter."

Many of the kids murmered her name in surprise, but one of the girls made a choking sound. "Andy…Jackson?"

Andy focused on her, hoping to see a familiar face. She was obviously a leader. She wore a regal purple cloak over her armor marking her as the praetor, _how did she know that?_ Her chest was decorated with medals. She must have been about Andy's age, with dark, piercing eyes and long black hair.

Andy didn't recognize her, but the girl stared at her as if she'd seen her in her nightmares.

June laughed with delight. "Oh, yes. You'll have such fun together!" Then, just because the day hadn't been weird enough already, the old lady began to glow and change form. She grew until she was a shining, seven-foot-tall goddess in a blue dress, with a cloak that looked like goat's skin over her shoulders. Her face was stern and stately. In her hand was a staff topped with a lotus flower.

If it was possible for the campers to look more stunned, they did. The girl with the purple cloak knelt. The others followed her lead. One kid got down so hastily he almost impaled himself on his sword.

Hazel was the first to speak. "Juno." She and Frank also fell to their knees, leaving Andy the only one standing. She knew she should probably kneel too, but after carrying the old lady so far, she didn't feel like showing her that much respect.

"Juno, huh?" she said. "If I passed your test, can I have my memory back?"

The goddess smiled. "In time, Andy Jackson, if you succeed in your quest. You've done well today, which is a good start. Perhaps there's hope for you yet."

She turned to the other kids. "Romans, I present to you the daughter of Neptune. For months she has been slumbering, but now she is awake. She has been on a quest for Olympus these past years, but now she's back. Her fate is in your hands. The Feast of Fortune comes quickly, and Death must be unleashed if you are to stand any hope in the battle. Do not fail me!" Juno shimmered and disappeared.

* * *

Now, she was both anticipating and dreading seeing Jason again. He had been her constant companion and her best friend for as far as she could remember, till...till she left. Was he still waiting for her? Or had he lost hope? Did he still have feelings for her? Or had Reyna or any other girl taken her place in his heart? Would they be able to be friends once more? Or had everything changed between them? Would he ever forgive her?

Questions with no answers swirled like a hurricane inside her head. She held her head high and strode forward to meet her fate even though on the inside, she felt as if heading towards the guillotine.

* * *

**I hope you like this chapter. Please Review.**


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